In
general terms, the Romans
coined the name 'Gaul' to describe the
Celtic tribes of what is now
central, northern and eastern
France. The Gauls were
divided from the Belgae
to the north by the Marne and the Seine, and from the Aquitani to the south
by the River Garonne. They also extended eastwards, into the region that was
becoming known as Germania. The Celts had ruled much of this in their heyday,
but by the middle of the first century BC they were fragmented, and were
either in the process of being expelled by the increasingly powerful
Germanic tribes who were
migrating southwards from
Scandinavia and the Baltic
coast, or they were being defeated and integrated into Germanic or other
tribes. The Helisii were located in the area which today roughly forms the
meeting point between eastern
Slovakia, southern
Poland and western
Ukraine. They were neighboured
to the north by Germanic tribes, including the
Vandali, to the east by the
Venedi, and to the south and
west by fellow Celtic tribes including the
Harii,
Manimi, and
Osi.

The Helisii tribal name is an odd one. It begins withy an element that is
very similar to the
Helvetii
and Helveconae,
but the 'v' (a 'w' sound) is missing. This means that the name is probably
not descended from *selwa, meaning 'possessions' or 'possessors'. Assuming
the 's' to 'sh' to 'h' shift that also happened with the other two tribes,
then the older form 's/sh' plus 'elis' should be valid. That older first
element in the name, 'sel-', appears to be an
Indo-European word for a crawling animal, in Germanic usage a seal, in
Celtic usage a turtle, snail, or the verb 'to crawl'. Could this be a totem
animal such as a turtle, a metaphor for armoured? The tribe may have fought
in some kind of armour, or perhaps naked or in linen. Unfortunately the very
brief mention of them by Tacitus fails to supply any specifics, so a more
precise meaning of Helisii cannot be hazarded.

Tacitus described the Helisii (or Elisii) as one of a number of tribes which
together formed the federation of the
Lugii, which itself was viewed
as being part of the Suevi
confederation. The Suevi were a confederation of (usually) Germanic peoples
that came into existence by the first century AD, and perhaps earlier. It
perhaps also included Celtic tribes that had remained in the region and which
were largely absorbed by the later arrivals. The Suevi confederation included
the tribes of the Alemanni,
Angles,
Hermunduri,
Langobards,
Marcomanni,
Quadi,
Semnones, and
Warini, and perhaps also the
Heruli too. None of these tribes
were what could be considered 'front line' tribes, living along the border with
the Roman empire. Instead they
were arrayed behind a large number of other tribes which were better known and
better attested by Roman writers. The Suebic tribes remained a little more
obscure, at least until they came into direct contact with the empire, and many
of the more minor tribes that made up the confederation were almost entirely
unchronicled. The Harii, Helveconae, Manimi, and
Naharvali
were also sometimes included in the Lugii federation.

The Helisii probably belong to the Hallstatt culture of
Celts, along with
the Bebryces,
Boii,
Cotini,
Harii,
Helveconae,
Manimi,
Naharvali,
Osi, and at least
some elements of the later
Lugii. They
are to be found around the central German lands, and in
Bohemia,
Moravia, Slovakia, and the edges of
Poland
and
Ukraine. Around this time
a large-scale expansion begins that sees many Hallstatt Celts migrate
outwards, towards northern
Italy,
Gaul, or Iberia. Many others remain, and control the region until pressure
from newly-arriving Germanic
tribes begins to erode their hold in the second and first centuries BC.

Displayed here are a Hallstatt face and mask, from
the culture of the same name which spanned the Old
Iron Age period between 800-450 BC

Writing in AD 98, Tacitus mentions the
Lugii. He is of
the opinion that they are a federation of the smaller Gaulish tribes, the
Harii, Helisii,
Helveconae,
Manimi, and
Naharvali. Tacitus
also mentions the Buri
but not as members of the Lugii.

c.140s

Ptolemy breaks the Lugii down into Lugi
Buri, Lugi Diduni, and
Lugi Omani. It seems plausible that the
Manimi of AD 98 have some
relationship to the Omani, based on the similar names, but of the
Harii, Helisii,
Helveconae, and
Naharvali
there is no sign once again. Have they been absorbed into the larger Lugii
collective, or have they drifted off elsewhere, never to be recorded again
by history?